Grand Entrance

edited by Sheila Kim -- Interior Design, 4/1/2004 12:00:00 AM

As of April 17, visitors to New York's Brooklyn Museum will again be admitted in style, thanks to a lofty pavilion by Polshek Partnership Architects. The overhauled entry sequence compensates for the lost glory of the original McKim, Mead & White design, altered in a 1934 Works Progress Administration project that removed a grand staircase and shifted the lobby to a less glamorous space, at grade level.

The staggered form of the 15,000-square-foot shingled-glass pavilion recalls the beaux arts building's original stair. And an elevated aluminum-paneled promenade curves around the pavilion's exterior.